


With The Pack

by emaierose



Category: Assassin's Creed - All Media Types
Genre: 18th Century, Family Feels, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Rewrite, Time Travel, Wolf Desmond
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-29
Updated: 2020-06-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:49:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 17,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23371225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emaierose/pseuds/emaierose
Summary: After saving the world Desmond woke up in the middle of the woods as an injured animal.
Relationships: Desmond Miles & Ratonhnhaké:ton | Connor
Comments: 60
Kudos: 365





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A rewrite from my old fic. If you've read it, this one will be very different.

All at once pain travelled all through his body, as Desmond woke up gasping for breath. His eyes not seeing anything as memories flooded into his mind, which added a headache to the pain. They found the key in time, unlocked the grand temple, Juno and Minerva, and his choice. He had to do it, to save the world from getting roasted by the sun.

For a while he laid there, trying to catch his breath as different and unfamiliar scents invaded his noise. He opened his eyes once more, and was greeted by tall grass and trees around him. Right in front of him, was a bloody paw.

His mind was more focused on his pain. Every part of him felt heavy, he couldn’t even raise his head no matter how hard he tried. A low growling noise reached his ears, coming from a huge shadow before him. His heart beat even faster.

‘You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.’

Desmond gritted his teeth and ordered his damn body to move. He just died not too long ago, and now he was going to die again by get eaten by a predator. ‘That’s just great.’

The former bartender widened his eyes at the beast, its saliva dripping down from his sharp fangs. The cougar looked hungry, and no doubt Desmond would make a delicious meal.

He glared back at the predator, growled and showed his own fangs which surprised him, because last time he checked he didn’t growl or have fangs. He snapped and suddenly he could move, he raised his head to warn the other not to get any closer. ‘Since when did I act like a wild animal?’

The animal unfazed by his action, continued to slowly approach him. It probably would be hesitant if Desmond wasn’t injured, which meant the cougar had a big advantage in killing him and wasn’t cautious of Desmond at all.

With a roar the predator jumped off the ground and towards him. Desmond managed to save his life by hair’s breath when he forced his aching body to quickly roll to the side and get up. His right arm, the one he placed on the eye, burned with intense pain as he sucked in a deep breath. He was also standing in all fours. ‘My day just keeps getting better.’

Desmond rolled to the side again when the cougar made another attack, during this he swiped his sharp claws deep into the animal’s shoulder, which only caused it to get more feral.

‘You deserve it you little shit.’ He growled back. He slowly backed away, preparing to run at the right moment, he didn’t know how long he could keep this up before he went back to being unmoving again. The cougar turned cautious, clearly it began to think that Desmond still had some strength left in him.

It decided to put its claws to good use and managed to hit him across the face. If he wasn’t injured, he was sure he could have avoided that attack and the following hits. It continued to use its claws until he was thrown at the edge of the cliff.

Fortunately they were at the edge of the waterfall, right below was a huge river. When Desmond submerged into the water, it turned out this could end badly. One, he was injured which meant it would be harder for him to swim. Two, he still wasn’t used to his new body. Three, the current was stronger than he expected, and four the river was freezing. He tried his best to keep himself afloat, but waves kept pushing him down further.

The second time he woke up, he was laying on the river bank. The blood on his limb had been washed away by water. He winced at the burnt skin underneath white fur. He didn’t have the time to take a look at himself before due to the massive headache and almost gotten himself killed by a cougar, and now that he did he could not believe this was happening.

His reflection on the river stared back at him, white fur and pointy ears, he’s a wolf. ‘I really got turned into an animal, is this what happens to those who got killed by the eye? Or is this just coincidence?’

Desmond decided to go look for food, since he couldn’t think properly with an empty stomach. He raised his right paw from the ground while he walked deeper into the woods, and used his strong sense of smell. ‘This is really weird.’

“Let me go!”

His ears perked up from the familiar voice of a kid, the person he had been watching in the animus for the last three months. He quickly made his way to the noise, and managed to quietly hid himself inside a bush. Right in front of him was Haytham’s men, and four year old Ratonhnhaké:ton. He made it just in time for William to knock the kid unconscious with a musket.

It would be bad if they spotted him, they would shoot him and sell his pelt to the merchants. Once they left, Desmond slowly walked out and moved to the soon to be assassin’s side.

‘What am I thinking? I shouldn’t be here and mess things up, who knows what will happen if I prevent Ziio’s death.’ But he couldn’t move his limbs for some reason.

‘This is a bad idea, the kid would get over his loss eventually.’ In the future, he saw his ancestor alone, burying Achilles near the manor. Having trust and anger issues that lead him to risk his life.

‘I’m here anyway, might as well prevent the kid from turning into a suicidal assassin.’

He first patted his face with his paw, when it didn’t work he licked him instead. The boy scrunched up before opening his eyes, and quickly moved away from him.

It took a while for Ratonhnhaké:ton to understand that Desmond won’t hurt him, the kid then remembered Charles Lee’s words and quickly ran to his village, the former human right behind him but not as fast as the kid due to his injury.

Smoke invaded his noise, and as they got closer, they could see the fire was starting to rise up from the wooden walls. Ratonhnhaké:ton let out a cry, and ran faster. They went inside, nobody paid them any mind as they were too busy saving others as well as themselves.

It would be too late if they ran through the huge longhouse to make it to Ziio, Desmond looked for another way to get to her faster and to prevent her from getting trapped.

He needed to jump over the huge flames. No other choice, he moved back, placed his injured paw on the ground and sucked in a deep breath. He ran as fast as he can, then jumped over the wall of fire. He crashed hard onto the ground but at least he made it, and howled in pain. He saw Ziio inside the longhouse in front of him, trying to open the back door.

He couldn’t get up anymore, the pain was too much. He barked as loud as he could to get her attention. It worked and she turned around, just in time to notice the wooden beams about to fall from the ceiling.

She ran towards Desmond and avoided getting crushed under them. The former human tried to get up but it was no use, he overexerted his already exhausted body. He heard Ratonhnhaké:ton’s voice as the walls came crashing down, black spots appeared in his vision.

He felt arms around him and picked him up from the ground, as darkness surrounded his vision. When he woke up, he was outside the village, his head getting petted by the kid sitting beside him. As Ratonhnhaké:ton watched his village burn down, he sniffed and cried quietly.

Worry bubbled inside Desmond. ‘Was I too late?’ The feeling faded away when he saw Kaniehtí:io helping others to put out the fire. He sighed in relief and watch everything unfolding before him. People running in and out of the village with buckets of water, as well as helping those who got injured.

Outside of Kanatahséton, people were being treated, while those who got killed by the fire was wrapped up with some type of cotton. Fortunately not a lot of people died.

Once the fire died down, people scavenged what could still be of use. Mainly to make temporary shelters. Ratonhnhaké:ton stayed by his side, brushing his fur with his fingers and sometimes scratched the part behind his ears that oddly made him relaxed and happy.

He let the kid be, if he was going to spend the rest of his life saving his ancestor’s ass then he needed to get used to spending time with him while in this form. He wasn’t worried about getting killed by the villagers, since Ratonhnhaké:ton already showed them that Desmond wasn’t the feral animal he was supposed to be.

Ziio walked towards them and sat by his son’s side. “Out of all the animals in the woods, you decided that a wolf can be considered as a good pet?” It was thanks to the bleeding effect that he could understand mohawk.

“He’s not a pet. He’s more than that.” Replied Ratonhnhaké:ton. A group of his friends came and surrounded him, curious as well as awed for being this close to a wolf.

“Is it a he or a she?” Asked Kanen’tó:kon.

“It’s a he.”

“It saved your mother, it’s like a hero wolf!”

She smiled at their enthusiasm. “Have you thought of a name for it yet?”

The children happily thought of a name for him.

‘I hope it’s not something ridiculous like fluffy.’

“He’s a wolf, and they often howl during a full moon. Rahrakwasere.” Helped Ziio.

“He who follows the moon?”

“Yes!”

“It suits him.” Agreed Ratonhnhaké:ton, and everyone thought so as well. They treated his burnt limb, and gave him fresh rabbit meat and water since he couldn’t get up on his own yet. Desmond could hear Shaun’s voice about him being treated as a baby by a bunch of children but he didn’t care, he was exhausted to take care of himself and the kids were willing to provide his needs for the meantime.

As everyone ate their food by the fire, they let themselves rest up for tomorrow. They needed to start rebuilding their village after all. Ratonhnhaké:ton spoke to his mother about his encounter with Charles Lee, she widened her eyes and told his son that they needed to share this information with the elder.

“Charles appearance and the fire were not just a coincidence. Even though we didn’t see how it happened, it is possible that Haytham’s men are the ones held responsible.” Stated one of the adults.

The village elder raised her hand and ordered everyone to calm down. “Without evidence, let us not jump into conclusions. Whoever did this to us is unforgivable and will not be forgotten, those people are never to be trusted.”


	2. Chapter 2

Between the smell of burnt wood and ashes, was a hint of gunpowder and metal. Desmond followed that scent until he arrived to a pile of wood, and nudged them away with his nose. It became stronger, it was thanks to his strong sense of smell that he could distinguish each scent, even when the thing was destroyed. This was what caused the fire, and the ones responsible weren’t the templars, but George Washington.

‘They thought this harmless village would join a war? They don’t even have the right weapons for it. More than anything, the people needed to know so they could prepare themselves, George won’t stop until they’re gone for good.’

It would slightly change Ratonhnhaké:ton’s anger towards the templars, but he already promised himself to find Charles Lee, and the boy was the kind of person to never give up. Desmond leaned down and sniffed around it, and caught a different scent. The ones responsible couldn’t be that far yet, as it would take days before they reach New York or Boston, even when riding a horse.

He needed something that belong to George Washington or any of the culprits’ things, he’ll worry about how he was going to explain it to them later. The kid would be fine on his own for a while. As Desmond left the village, it started to rain.

He was starting to get used to his new body, but it was still hard to run in all threes. It would take a whole month before his right limb was fully healed. The ground began to turn muddy, and puddles formed around him. The rain grew heavy.

Desmond kept himself aware of his surroundings, he didn’t want to get a surprise attack from a predator. While following the scent, he also made sure to avoid places where feral animals lived.

Desmond’s pace slowed slightly by the time he reached a slope, and carefully made his way down, white fur now drenched with mud. Seconds later he began to slip, he tried to slow down but with the heavy rain it only made him slide faster. When he was about to crash into a huge rock, he jumped off the slippery ground and landed on it. ‘Nice and easy now.’

He saw more rocks scattered around, he jumped on them until he made it all the way down.

The scent was getting stronger. ‘Guess those assholes never left the valley, that made things easier for me.’ There were also other humans nearby. ‘I must be getting near to a human village. Weird I’m calling it a human village now.’

He went back to his fast pace until he made it to the road. Beats of a drum reached his ears, and Desmond quickly went behind a bush. A few minutes later, eight redcoats appeared. They didn’t saw Desmond. One of them had a sword strapped to their waist, two were carrying an axe, and the rest were holding muskets.

Once they were far ahead of him, he went to the opposite direction. Wooden houses came into view. Only a few people were walking under the rain, but he still needed to be careful. Desmond sniffed the air once more.

‘I’m like a dog now.’ He chuckled at that, and stopped dead in his tracks when he spotted a dog. There wasn’t just one dog roaming around, but quite a few. It was thanks to the rain and mud that made Desmond’s scent less noticeable.

He managed to avoid them, and reached to the side of an inn. ‘They’re inside.’ He carefully went around the building, and looked for a way in without getting noticed. ‘One of them is still in there, the others have left early.’ All the windows were closed shut, except for the ones on the second floor.

‘I need at least one thing to let the village know that it wasn’t the templars, maybe George sent them a letter or something. Or I’ll just steal one of their clothes.’ George Washington’s men wore blue coats, unlike the templars who wore red or brown.

There was no other way in, until he saw a ladder that led up to the terrace. Fortunately the crosspieces weren’t that further apart. It would surely look weird for anyone if they saw a wolf climbing up a ladder. With the wood being slippery due to the rain, it took a while for him.

Once his paws landed on the wooden floors, he sniffed each window of where the culprit could be. As he found the right one, he found out the man was asleep and Desmond jumped through inside, water dripping down from his white fur.

The room was dark and small enough for a few furniture, suitable for one person. Right beside Desmond, stood a large mirror. He saw his own muddy paws making the floors dirty. Right next to the bed, was a bottle of ale. The man was snoring loudly, probably in a deep sleep. Desmond looked around the room, the man’s blue coat not in sight. It was probably inside the wardrobe. He walked towards it, and opened it with his paws. He found the blue colored coat as well was a handbag.

A loud thunder erupted from outside, which made Desmond flinched as well as woke the sleeping man up. The former bartender quickly hid under the bed, and hoped the man was still drunk enough to ignore the muddy footprints on the floor.

The human groaned as the bed creaked when he shifted to stand up. He walked towards the window, kicking the bottle along the way, and closed it shut which muffled some of the rain, wind, and thunder outside. He went back to lay on the bed, it was a few minutes later when the snoring came back.

Desmond crawled out, the room darker than it was before, but it was no problem for a wolf like him. He stood in front of the wardrobe and activated eagle vision, to see if there was something that belong to George Washington. He could still activate it, but what surprised him was his reflection on the mirror disappeared, as if he was never there. He deactivated it, and his reflection came back.

‘What the fuck?’ He glanced down at his own body, then activated it, white fur turned invisible. ‘Is this another weird side effect from the eye?’

Using eagle vision, he saw a rectangular shape object glowing golden from one of the pockets. Desmond stood on two of his limbs, using his uninjured one to lean on the wardrobe, and took the letter with his teeth. His ears perked up when the snoring stopped and heard the creaking of the bed. Not enough time to hide himself, he dropped the letter under the wardrobe and kept his eagle vision activated. The man was only sitting, staring blankly at Desmond.

Few minutes later he groaned and wiped his face with a hand, before standing up to walk towards the wolf, who swiftly moved out of the way. The man simply closed the wardrobe. As he turned to leave by opening the door, Desmond grabbed the letter and dashed past the human, who let out a surprised yell. He ran across the hallway, and made his way downstairs.

No one was looking at Desmond, or wondering why a piece of letter was flying, they were too busy talking or eating. As the entrance door opened, he ran outside. The rain was heavier than it was before, and won’t be stopping anytime soon.

To avoid getting the letter wet, he went under the inn’s porch then deactivated eagle vision. The ground was quite dry, and night has already arrived which made Desmond well hidden in the dark. Curious, he opened the letter and read its contents. There was also George’s signature. His stomach rumbled for the fifth time. He missed eating Rebecca’s homemade meals, or any food that was cooked.

‘I’ll have to start hunting food for myself tomorrow.’

Thanks to his thick fur, it kept him warm as Desmond slowly dozed off to sleep, hoping he would wake up from this dream even it was highly impossible.

He woke up the next day to birds chirping. ‘I feel like shit.’

He grabbed the letter, activated eagle vision to avoid getting noticed, and crawled out of the porch. When he reached the woods, he started hunting for food. His lack of energy, accompanied by his injury made him slow and sluggish. He managed to catch one small rabbit at least, he wasn’t even disgusted when he ate it raw and its blood all over his mouth.

‘I guess I was really hungry.’ He killed and ate a few more.

After washing the blood and mud on his body at the river, he took the letter he hid inside a bush and made his way to Kanatahséton, where a bunch of worried children greeted him.

“Rahrakwasere! He has returned!” They all ran towards him.

“What is that in his mouth?” Asked Kanen’tó:kon.

“It’s a letter.” Ratonhnhaké:ton took it from him to read it himself. His face turned confused, the other kids grew curious and asked what was written on the letter. They decided to let an adult explain it to them.

“Where did you get this?” Questioned Ziio, there was a hint of panic and worry in her voice which didn’t escape Desmond.

“Rahrakwasere found it. What does it say mother?”

The mohawk woman glanced at Desmond, probably wondering how on earth a wolf managed to get important information about the fire incident two days ago. “Something I need to discuss the others with. I will join you for dinner after this.” She turned to the other children. “It is best if you return to your homes as well.”

The kids obeyed her, not wanting to get on her bad side since the last time Ratonhnhaké:ton was scolded. As the others left, the boy went to get his new bow and arrow since his old ones got destroyed by the fire, to distract himself as he waited for Ziio to come back. When the kid made no move to follow his mother, Desmond went to Ziio. He found her talking to the clan mother. They stood with the other adults by the fire, each wore worried expressions.

“We need to strengthen our defenses, build watchtowers in order for us to be invulnerable if they do intend to strike again. Become stronger to protect ourselves, as it is our duty to protect what was bestowed upon us.”


	3. Chapter 3

“The others went to look for more herbs, that left us three people to hunt for food. We have no choice but to search further away from the village to find bigger meat.”

“Let us make haste while the day is still bright and early.” Stated Ziio. After planning where they were going to hunt individually, everyone bid them farewell and good luck. Ratonhnhaké:ton wanted to come with his mother, who refused as the boy was still young thus not allowed to leave the village yet. She told him to stay and watch over everyone, the kid nodded as they hug before he left to look for Kanen’tó:kon.

“Rahrakwasere.”

Desmond stood on his place as Ziio leaned down closer to his face, brown eyes staring into his soul which made him nervous due to her intimidating and calculating look. “Are you a human trapped inside a wolf’s body?”

Desmond wasn’t surprised by this turn of events, since she was giving him suspicious looks ever since he gave them that letter yesterday, he kind of expected this was going to happen. He didn’t even try to hide the way he acted human sometimes, sleeping indoors or without a pack as well as helping humans all of a sudden.

He trusted they won’t betray him if they do find out about him being a human before, and he needed them to trust him that he meant no harm and only wished to help his hot headed ancestor. Nervousness replaced with confidence, he nodded.

Ziio smiled, probably at his honesty. “Meet me outside the village, I need to clarify something.”

Curious, the former human followed her through the gates as they walked deeper into the woods.

“Were you a villager in Kanatahséton and died, then brought back to life by the spirits to help us?”

’I’m supposed to be dead, at least that was what Minerva told me. But I can’t say it to her, and nodding to her wrong theory won’t build the trust I plan to establish between us so I have to go for the truth.’ He shook his head.

“Were you from a different village then?” Another no. “That doesn’t make sense as to why you are helping us. You also seem to be quite fond of my son, which means you are aiding us simply because you want to?”

‘Close enough, and it’s probably the only close thing you’ll ever guess at this point.’ He nodded, and Ziio’s shoulder relaxed, relieved that Desmond cared for her son.

The mohawk woman smiled down at him. “Since you are now part of Kanatahséton as well as a wolf, we’ll put your abilities to good use, and that is helping me hunt.”

Desmond raised his injured limb. ‘I’m still healing, and after the adventure I went yesterday I at least deserve a break don’t I?’

“You do not need to chase animals, you only need to use your nose to search for their location.”

‘Is that why you brought me out here?’ Nevertheless he went to look for a prey, since they did need to feed a whole village, and caught the scent of a hare.

Ziio swiftly set up the trap, as well as placing baits around it. Desmond located a few more nearby, and Ziio wasted no time in placing traps, fully trusting Desmond. The former human sniffed the air, and smelled wolves from far away and seemed to be heading towards them. After Ziio was done, he led her further into the woods in order for the wolves to lose interest in them.

‘This is a huge forest, there’s a lot of preys living here you fucking wolves.’

When he sniffed the air once more, it turned out they were still following them. Desmond wasted no time to find a river. Ziio began to realize that something was wrong, and just followed Desmond in swimming across. This way their scent will be carried away by the water as they make their way to the other side. Desmond and Ziio dried themselves up then went back to their hunt. She set a few more traps before telling the wolf they needed a bigger animal this time.

Desmond sniffed for any larger prey nearby, and caught the scent of a deer. He began to run, the mohawk woman following behind him. As they grew closer to the target he slowed down, and crouched low on the ground as not to frighten the animal in front of them.

Ziio went to a nearby bush and placed some baits before her and waited patiently. It was a few minutes later when the deer walked towards them, as it got closer Ziio swiftly killed it with one stab through its heart with her knife.

She thanked for the meat before skinning the deer, chopping off its limbs and tying them together to carry them easier. Blood on her hands as well on the ground, her face full of concentration with her task. She went towards the river to wash off the blood, as well as cleaned her knife. Desmond’s ears suddenly perked up, a pack of wolves heading fast to their way.

‘They must have smelled the deer we killed. It will be impossible for Ziio to swim through the river because of the heavy meat, but we can’t just let the wolves have them. The bridge is also a further away and the wolves will likely catch up to us before we can get across.’

Without wasting anymore time, he ran towards the wolves, Ziio calling out for him who fortunately didn’t follow him. He activated eagle vision as his body turned invisible. He jumped of a rock, and pounced on one of the five wolves.

He had a bigger advantage due to his invisibility, the others even seemed confused and scared. The wolves backed away slowly, eyes and nose searching for their attacker but saw none. Desmond’s blood run cold when he smelled a bear nearby.

The former human began growling at the wolves, which worked as they quickly turned around and ran with their tails between their legs. He quickly ran back to Ziio, and found the bear slowly approaching her from behind, eyeing the meat she was cutting into smaller pieces.

‘This deer meat is a pain in the ass, should have let the wolves take it.’

Still invisible, he jumped off the ground and bit hard on the bear’s face, who let out a roar and scared the hell out of Ziio. She quickly ran a good distance away and watched with horror as the huge beast clawed invisible Desmond out of his face.

The former human let out a cry as he was thrown to the ground, his side hurt like hell.

“Rahrakwasere, is that you?”

Deactivating eagle vision, he tried telling her to run away. The bear was groaning in pain, its face a bloody mess. After Ziio snapped out of her bewilderment, she took her bow and arrow and aimed at the bear’s neck. The huge beast let out a pained noise, Ziio didn’t stop until the animal finally fell down on the ground, still breathing but on the verge of dying.

She quickly went to Desmond’s side, eyeing the fresh claw marks on his body but thankfully it didn’t look deep enough to damage his internal organs. She brushed his fur with her fingers. “Thank you.” She stood up and walked towards the bear.

“Niá:wen.” The mohawk woman sunk her knife deeply into the bear’s skin, ending its life and suffering quickly. She stood and glanced at Desmond. “I’m going to look for herbs to treat your wounds. It would be better to eat and rest before we head back to the village.”

Desmond knew she could take care of herself, but with the scent of their fresh kills in the air, it was bound to attract predators nearby. He waited with worry, fortunately nothing else happened when Ziio returned with firewood and some plants in her arms.

She treated his wounds before making a campfire, afterwards she cooked some of the dear meat. As she sat on a thick log and ate, she stared at the huge bear meat in front of them, probably wondering how they were going to carry all of it. In the end she decided to leave most of it, she couldn’t carry anymore due to the deer meat as well as the traps she have set near the village.

They were about to leave when the others arrived, looking for them as the sun was close to setting. They were surprised they managed to kill a large bear by themselves. They began to chop the meat to smaller pieces, and carried everything all the way to Kanatahséton, the people would be happy for the huge amount of food.

Along the way, Desmond’s side hurt like a bitch, it was difficult enough to walk on threes, but he sucked it up and tried not to whimper as much when they gave him worried looks. They managed to reach the village without any trouble and Desmond was close to passing out.

Everyone was extremely happy.

“Where did he go? He was gone the moment I turned my back. He seems worn out.” Wondered Ratonhnhaké:ton. Desmond had his head on the boy’s lap on his loft, getting petted which he didn’t mind. He was past caring at this point.

“He went hunting with me.”

The boy’s eyes widened the moment he saw three long claw marks at the former human’s side. “Where did he get those?”

“From the bear we killed. He is really tired and should get some rest.” She leaned down to kiss the top of Ratonhnhaké:ton’s head, before putting out the fire, enveloping the longhouse in darkness.

The next morning Desmond stayed on his ancestor’s loft, too tired to get up and hunt food for himself. His body was heavy as lead as it had been the first time he woke up in this place. Every time he shifted to a different position, a whimper would escape from his throat. Connor was up and about the moment the sun rose, which was the same for everyone in this village. Hours later he was awoken by children around him, each wore worried expressions.

“Is he sick?”

“Do not worry, I have checked. He only needs to rest.” Stated Ziio, who was busy weaving a basket by the entrance of the longhouse. The children’s shoulders relaxed.

“I have an idea.” Stated one girl of their group. “How about we make him a present for helping our village? A necklace for example.”

“I have beads my mother gave to me.”

“I still have the feathers we found in the forest.”

“Let’s take what we can use and bring it here.” They agreed and left.

Desmond didn’t expect they would give him something, however he wasn’t going to refuse whatever the kids made for him. His tail betrayed him when Ziio gave him a large cooked chicken meat. Wagging for a full ten seconds before it finally stopped, she just smiled at him and went back to her weaving.

Sated and full by the time the children returned. They created him a necklace with feathers, beads, and some interesting bones attached to it, it looked pretty good considering it was made by children.


	4. Chapter 4

As the clan mother handed the crystal ball to the thirteen year old Ratonhnhaké:ton, light traveled around the wooden walls and ceiling of the longhouse, forming into unknown yet intriguing symbols. The clan mother was nowhere to be found.

A woman whom he had never seen before appeared in front of him, she answered that he was still where he was before and what he saw now was called the Nexus, where probabilities were calculated in order for him to choose the right path. Bright light engulfed him, and his vision changed to him being high above the clouds, his body turned into an eagle.

As the spirit led him down through the forest, she told him they had been waiting millennial for his arrival, Ratonhnhaké:ton who will bring him the last piece to open the door. This only caused him confusion and guilt as it was his fault his people never left the village, to fight those who attacked them in order to protect him. The spirit sensed his pain, and tried to tell him that he was important.

His path was to seek out a symbol, where a man will train him in order for Ratonhnhaké:ton to prevent those men who wanted the sanctuary for power and control, which would endanger everyone including his village.

The spirit told him his questions will be answered in time, for now he must follow. He woke up at the side of the river and wondered how he got there. He immediately drew the symbol he saw lest he forgot about it. It felt more real than it to be considered a dream, his heart still beating fast in his chest and his hands were shaking.

The clan mother walked up to him, after exchanging words she told him he had her permission to leave the village.

She gave him a folded mattress and a map to where he will find the symbol. Ratonhnhaké:ton went back inside the village to speak with his mother, who was cooking inside of their longhouse. He was a bit nervous to speak to her about this, there was a possibility that her mother would refuse, however it was his obligation to protect his people.

“The clan mother has given me permission to leave the village.”

She looked at him in surprise. “Do you wish to go somewhere?”

“She handed me a crystal ball, a spirit showed me visions of chaos and destruction if those men who wanted our land succeeded. She also said someone who lives far out of the valley will train me.”

His mother studied him, making him even more nervous. “I understand what needs to be done but why did she choose only you my son?”

“She said I was important, that only I can put a stop to them.”

She frowned, worried, and let out a sigh. “Fine, you may go.”

Ratonhnhaké:ton perked up and went to embrace her. “Thank you mother, I will make you proud.”

She smiled and embraced him back. “I have no doubt that you will.”

After packing what he would need for his journey and telling everyone goodbye, Rahrakwasere followed him despite trying to tell the wolf to stay to watch over the village. The predator’s response was to walk ahead of him, as if he knew exactly where they were going. It was a few days later when they left the Frontier. Ratonhnhaké:ton would have gotten run over by horses if the wolf didn’t drag him to the side of the road.

Along the way, they met two men by the bridge, they were frightened upon seeing Rahrakwasere. He reassured them and later the two got into a fight with themselves, they decided to leave them be and arrived to a two story manor.

Ratonhnhaké:ton knocked on door, when nothing else happened, he knocked on the door again. The door was opened by an old man, dark skin and wore clothes of a noble and held a wooden cane in his hand. He seemed annoyed by Ratonhnhaké:ton’s appearance, who politely asked the old man to train him, only to be rejected as the door closed on his face. He heard a snort behind him, the young mohawk sent a glare to his animal friend.

Annoyed, he knocked on the door again only to be told to go away, which Ratonhnhaké:ton refused. A few minutes later, it started to rain as the sky grew dark and gloomy. They set up camp inside the horses’ stables nearby. The next early morning, he knocked on the door again, but there was no response whatsoever this time.

Determined to achieve his goal and not to disappoint his people, he decided to look for another way in. He ran to the back of the manor and knocked on the door to let the old man speak to him, only to be told to get the hell off his land.

Rahrakwasere pointed his head towards the balcony. Ratonhnhaké:ton yelled that he was coming up and did just that. In the end the old man knocked him off of his feet with his cane, telling him that pursuing this course will only lead him to death, that the world has moved on and best he did too. He knew what was at stake here, and he already made up his mind. He told the old man that would never leave until he would train him.

The day dully passed slowly, the manor silent, Ratonhnhaké:ton went back to the horses’ stables. He sat down on the mattress, thinking how he was going to get the old man to listen to him.

He refused to leave to get something to eat, not wanting to miss the chance of confronting the old man if he did leave the manor. Rahrakwasere bit on the sleeves of his shirt and tried to drag him outside.

“Stop it, I am not hunting.”

The wolf barked at him, which he didn’t pay any mind. He was certain the animal just rolled his eyes at him. Rahrakwasere just pulled his mattress outwards, which annoyed him but he guessed his friend was only looking out for him. He sighed. “Fine.”

The wolf looked smug.

After eating, they went back to their camp to call it a day. As the rain started pouring down, he heard voices coming closer. Rahrakwasere turned invisible and Ratonhnhaké:ton hid himself in the darkness of the stables.

After a few seconds he confronted them, and when he refused to leave the bandits started attacking him. There were more of them nearby, most of them were just surprised of getting attacked by an invisible Rahrakwasere, thus giving him an advantage. However when he questioned one of them, he didn’t noticed the man behind him and got hit, knocking him to the ground.

Before he could land another hit on the mohawk, the wolf bit his arm. The old man appeared behind the remaining bandits, skillfully ending their lives silently. After every last one of them was dead, he told Ratonhnhaké:ton to clean up the mess then meet him inside the manor to talk. The boy dragged the corpses deep into the woods where predators would surely devour them.

Rahrakwasere was about to follow him inside when he stopped him.

“Stay.”

This was not his house therefore he wasn’t sure if the owner would agree of letting an animal in, especially a wolf. He closed the door and met the old man who was sitting by the fire place. As Ratonhnhaké:ton was about to sit on the chair in front of him, the wolf appeared out of thin air and surprised both of them.

“How did it do that?”

“I do not know myself.” He answered. He found out years ago that the animal possessed such an ability, and it stayed as a mystery to him and his people. Rahrakwasere proved that he was a human before, and his only desire was to protect his village.

The man studied the predator. “How peculiar. Is it well trained enough to behave indoors?”

This surprised him, perhaps Rahrakwasere has impressed the old man. “Yes.”

“Then it can stay.”

As Ratonhnhaké:ton sat on the chair, it crumbled on his weight. He quickly stood up. “Sorry.”

He waved him away. “Not your fault. This whole place is ready to come down. Goddamn miracle it hasn’t already. Anyway, who are you?”

“My name is Ratonhnhaké:ton.”

“Right. Well, I’m not going to try and pronounce that. Now tell me why you’re here.” The old man placed his full attention on him.

He took out the map the clan mother gave him, and showed him the symbol the spirit gave him. “I was told to seek this symbol.”

He took the map. “Do you even know what that symbol represents? Or what it is you’re asking for?”

He didn’t have a single clue of what it meant. “No.”

“And yet here you are.”

“The spirit said that—That I’ve—”

The old man raised a hand to stop him from talking. “These “spirits” of yours have been harassing the Assassins for centuries. Ever since Ezio uncorked the bottle. But you don’t even know what an Assassin is, do you?”

Ratonhnhaké:ton shook his head no.

“Well, best settled on then. I’ve got a story to tell and it’s gonna take a while to get it all out.”

The mohawk grabbed a chair nearby before the old man began telling the story of how the war between the Assassins and Templars began. How the master assassin Ezio was the prophet to keep their enemies away from powerful artifacts made by those who came before, to prevent the world getting destroyed by the Templars who wanted control and power.

After telling everything to the boy, he led him to a secret basement located beside the kitchen, the wolf following behind them.

Down there, dust and cobwebs clung to every surface, only a single candle kept the darkness away. In the middle of the room, stood a white and blue robe. This was what the assassins wore during missions, professional killers who followed the creed in order to achieve everyone’s freedom.

It amazed Ratonhnhaké:ton, and studied the cloth with his fingers. He was about to check what was inside the box with the assassin symbol on top of the lid when the old man hit his curious hands away with his cane.

“Don’t think you can just come in here, throw those on and call yourself an Assassin.”

“I—did not. I would never presume—”

“It’s alright. I know they’ve a certain allure.” The old man studied the boy. “Very well, I’ll train you. Then we’ll know if you’ve the right to wear those robes.”

Happiness bubbled inside Ratonhnhaké:ton. “Thank you, uhm..”

“Name’s Achilles.”

The old man turned to the table. “Come on then. We’ve work to do.” He ordered the boy to remove the wood from the wall. There were pictures of the men Ratonhnhaké:ton recognized, except for the one beside his father. He remembered what they did to him years ago, what Charles Lee said to him and his people.

“What do the templars want?”

“What they’ve always wanted, control. They see an opportunity in the colonies. A chance for new beginnings, unfettered by the chaos of the past. This is why they back the British. Here they have a chance to illustrate the merits of their beliefs. A people in service to the principles of order and structure.”

Ratonhnhaké:ton eyed each of them. “I have seen what is to become if they succeed. They have to die don’t they? All of them. Even my father.”

“Especially your father. He’s the one holding the whole thing together.”


	5. Chapter 5

When Charles Lee fired his pistol on top of the rooftop, it triggered the redcoats to start shooting at the angry civilians of Boston, killing six people according to Shaun’s data base. There were also some injured colonists. Desmond thought about stopping the templar, it was a hell of a risk as it could change things entirely, but he was willing to take responsibility as no one needed to die when that time would come.

Either way, the revolution was still bound to happen. Before Charles would arrive at his spot, Desmond would already be there waiting for him, intending to be invisible and take his pistol away from him.

‘Piece of cake really.’

The sun was barely rising from the horizon, and the homestead was truly a sight to see, especially the ocean. A familiar scent caught his nose, wolves were getting nearer to the manor. It was probably because of the bandits’ corpse they dealt with yesterday.

While the bodies were already eaten by predators, it was no surprise the blood would be calling out others. Didn’t mean Desmond would let them trespass into his new territory. The former human began to make his way to the wolves, activating eagle vision and turning invisible when he was close.

Just as he expected, the wolves were scared of an unseen enemy, especially since his ability also made his scent disappear. It wasn’t hard to send them away, and the former human was sure they would never get close to the manor ever again.

Seeing them running away, as a pack, left an uncomfortable feeling in his chest. Desmond missed talking to someone, sometimes, it’s been years after all. A growling sound from his belly cut him off from his thoughts before they could go any deeper. Pushing the feeling out of his chest, he started looking for a prey.

‘Let’s see what’s on today’s menu.’ 

There was a herd of deer nearby. Desmond slowed down as not to make a sound, and scare them away before he even arrived. Climbing on top of a rock, he could see the whole herd. Scanning his eyes on them, and then decided to prey on the nearest healthy male.

Chasing it was out of the picture, quietly getting closer was faster and didn’t need to use a lot of his energy. Besides he had a routine with Connor every morning, which was running through the woods, and neither of them wanted to start without the other.

The former human slowly crept closer inch by inch, his focus solely on the animal who glowed white in his eagle vision. As he readied to pounce, Connor landed from above and killed Desmond’s target, scaring the living daylights out of him. The herd immediately dispersed from the area. Desmond glared at Ratonhnhaké:ton, who shrugged and smiled apologetically as if he only noticed the wolf just now.

‘Yeah right.’ A growl settled in his throat, but he didn’t let it out. Connor could clearly see him in his own eagle vision, especially when he was at the top of the tree, whether he was there in first place to watch the sun rise or just wanted to be a dick first thing in the morning.

‘Probably both.’

After cooking the meat and giving the larger portions to Desmond, he decided they were even. There was a new glint in his ancestor’s eyes, it was because he would begin his training today. For the next few months everything was the same as he remembered in Connor’s training, the only difference was Achilles was training Desmond too.

‘More like making me a science experiment, where did he get that idea that wolves can climb trees?’

Despite the mentor of the colonial assassin’s interesting achievements for him, Desmond didn’t bother to do all of them, simply because he already had experiences of three master assassins in him. Not that he was grateful for the bleeding effect, because he would never will be grateful to lose his mind no matter how beneficial, but because he didn’t want to be another clay to be sculpted with.

Desmond had enough of that with the templars and assassins in his early life. Connor on the other hand, was eager, sucking every tiny detail Achilles told him equivalent to a sponge with water. Desmond never seen anyone quite as a fast learner as Ratonhnhaké:ton.

On the last month before the Boston Massacre, Desmond decided to try climbing trees. Giving it a lot of thought as it was another way of preparing himself when they made it to Boston, as Connor would be climbing a lot of houses, Desmond decided to remedy his disadvantage as a wolf. Now after their morning routine in running through the woods, they would start climbing trees, adding new strength to their bond as a pack.

Sinking his claws into the bark of the branch he was on to balance himself, before jumping to another one, swiftly catching up to his ancestor. If Desmond had been human, he would bark out a laugh at the oddity of the situation.

‘A wolf climbing trees, that will freak a lot of people.’

The day came to leave the homestead to buy supplies for the manor. None of the humans stopped the wolf in coming along with them, knowing Desmond was smart enough not to get himself killed in Boston.

It would take a few days before they arrive, and sitting inside the carriage for too many hours would set his nerves on haywire. Thinking it was more of a wolf thing, the former human sat beside Achilles on the front as Ratonhnhaké:ton sat inside.

On the day they start their journey Desmond didn’t bother to conceal himself whenever they passed by some humans on the road, he did activate eagle vision on the second day, where they were nearing Boston and there were a lot of redcoats patrolling around. They arrived to the entrance of the city, which was guarded by the British army.

Stopping the carriage just in the middle of Boston, Connor stepped outside, head turning around in awe. Afterwards the mohawk’s eyes followed a woman walking by with an umbrella.

The mentor of the colonial assassins hit the boy’s arm with his cane. “Don’t stare.” Scolded Achilles.

Ratonhnhaké:ton looked down in shame with his palms placed in front of him, reminding Desmond of a kicked puppy, which he laughed in his head. 

“Sorry.” Said his ancestor.

When avoiding being stepped on wasn’t bad enough for the wolf, he had to endure the smells of alcohol, piss, and vomit that lurked in the alleys. Desmond’s strong sense of smell was making his head spin in pain.

The thought of waiting by the carriage was tempting, but Desmond didn’t have a choice because he knew what was going to happen in the next twenty minutes. Besides, Achilles was going to leave Connor as another way of training him.

Desmond was sure he was never going to get used to the smells of Boston, walking made the ground swayed beneath his feet, he barely contained the bile that was rising in his throat. Although Desmond managed to keep it down, and waited for his ancestor outside the store.

Amidst the painfully loud noises around him, he picked up a familiar voice, who sounded as if he was getting beaten to a pulp by a group of men. Desmond realized it was one of the people who was going to reside in the homestead in the future.

The man was asking for help, but no one could hear him, except for Desmond. The wolf hesitated, knowing he was going to survive since he was alive in Connor’s memory and the riot was going to start any minute now, but Desmond was not a dick.

Running towards the noise, it took three more turns until he arrived to the secluded place. Dr. Lyle White was on the ground with cuts and bruises on his face, five men stood around him, taking what was in his pockets. Desmond growled and barked, loud enough for the people who were passing by outside to hear it and investigate. All of them flinched, looking for a dog but found none.

“Go away!” As if sounding threatening was going to be enough to stop Desmond.

“Dr. Death has some kind of dead dog following him around?” The thieves laughed.

‘Nope, I’m way worse.’

When one of their friends began to scream in shock and pain, bite marks appearing on his hand as blood dripped down, Desmond relished the intense fear in their eyes as they ran without taking any of the doctor’s valuables.

The doctor glanced around in confusion and shock. Angry shouts and demands reached Desmond’s ears, and he wasted no time to return back to Connor, who was already with Achilles at the front of the Old State House.

The colonists threw stones, snowballs, as well as insults to the eight redcoats. In the nearby streets, civilians wrestled with the soldiers on the walls and snow.

“I say again, disperse! Congregating in this manner is forbidden!” Attempted one redcoat, who seemed to be the captain. The crowd refused, having enough of the British’s abuse to their rights.

The captain then asked his men if their muskets were loaded with bullets, which did not scare the colonists one bit and dared them to shoot.

Desmond sunk his claws into the wooden wall and started climbing up, and waited patiently on the roof. Staying quietly as possible once Charles Lee appeared in his vision, and stood with his back to the wolf. Not to change the future as much, he wouldn’t hurt Charles.

At the other side, was the templar his ancestor was tasked to stop. Before Ratonhnhaké:ton killed the man with his tomahawk, Desmond grabbed the pistol in Charles’ grip with his teeth.

“What?” Said the man in bewilderment, watching the flying pistol with wide eyes, and tried to grab it when Desmond threw it off the roof. The pistol fell to the snow below.

Charles’ expression turned dark with anger, mouth twisting into a snarl as his eyes flew to the other side, where Connor dropped the templar’s dead body. Desmond saw Haytham narrowing his eyes and grabbed the captain’s attention away from the crowd and pointed to the novice assassin.

“That boy one the roof was about to shoot you.”

The panicking redcoat then yelled at his men to kill the mohawk, who quickly escaped before the soldiers reached the roof. Before the redcoats could position their muskets as a last warning to the heated crowd, the civilians acted quickly and grabbed their weapons. The soldiers were outnumbered thus didn’t stand a chance, most of the redcoats died as some were badly injured from the colonists’ wrath.

Desmond was about to leave the roof when his whole body froze on instinct, as if someone was watching him, but that was impossible as only Connor could see him. Then he realized, and turned his gaze back to the crowd, where the grandmaster of the templars was watching the wolf like a hawk to its prey.

‘Shit.’

Desmond was so focused on stopping Charles, that he totally forgot that Haytham had eagle vision too. On his defense, he didn’t expect him to use it right now.

‘Well, this just means I need to be a lot careful from now on.’ The former human quickly left the roof to catch up with Connor.

There were a lot of redcoats in Boston, and Ratonhnhaké:ton was having a hard time hiding as a group of them would greet him in every corner. Desmond pounced on the redcoat who was chasing his ancestor, allowing the mohawk to pass through an open door of a house and got away.

Once he was hidden, a man came up to Connor, who was about to run again when the lad stopped him. The man was a messenger sent by Samuel Adams who was asked by Achilles, telling Connor to meet the man by the docks.

As they made their way to the assassins’ ally, Desmond could hear every word and whisper of the civilians and soldiers.

“No matter what they say, or how they see it, it was just an act of disobedience. We will make sure this incident never happens again!”

“But, sir—” Said one nervous trainee. “The townsfolk are already calling it “The Boston Massacre”, six of our soldiers died and five were injured, not one civilian died but those who were responsible for the murders are now in prison.”

“Make sure they are hanged by sunset tomorrow. We will use this as an example for them to never repeat it again!”

Removing some posters around Boston was a piece of cake, and after bribing the herald, Samuel lead them to the secret network of tunnels beneath Boston. Desmond decided to show himself to the patriot, who was just as surprised and awed by the wolf as Achilles.

After Connor explained and even before the entrance of the tunnel was opened, Desmond could already smell the strong stench and he couldn’t help but gagged, which both humans found amusing. Desmond glared at them and growled, they immediately looked sorry.

“Meet us once we get out of the tunnels.” Said Connor.

“He can understand you? How?” Asked Samuel in astonishment.

Ratonhnhaké:ton frowned. “Are we not in a hurry?” Probably not comfortable to spill Desmond’s secret without his consent, which the wolf was grateful.

“Oh, right. Come on then Connor.” The man opened the tunnel’s entrance, and both went down the stairs. The wolf turned invisible again, and made his way to the printer shop before they did.

Desmond wasn’t sure if he could endure the smells down there, when he still hadn’t adjusted to the smells up here. Waiting outside, he watched how everyone walked the streets casually as if nothing happened earlier, when deep down he knew the redcoats were worried and the civilians’ anger did not simmer down one bit.

Once Connor was completely anonymous from the redcoats, Samuel Adams lead them to the harbor, where his ancestor expressed his gratitude for helping him with a handshake. Another bad feeling surfaced on Desmond’s chest, unconsciously letting out a whimper, catching Connor’s attention.

‘Doing nothing and surrounded with water for a day? Nope, not happening.’ Desmond stayed on his ground when his ancestor started walking towards the ship, if he was already nervous sitting in the carriage, then getting on a ship would drive him insane. Being a wolf and all, no one could blame him.

The mohawk sighed. “Perhaps it can’t be helped, I’ll see you back home.”


	6. Chapter 6

After the Boston Massacre, would be Achilles showing Connor the Aquila, and Desmond spending three fucking weeks on a ship at sea. Nervousness wouldn’t even begin to cover how he felt about relying his life on a wooden transport, or not being able to hunt and chase preys as he used to.

He thought about staying and waiting for his ancestor, even hang out with the gang at Kanatahséton, but he was worried. So far nothing out of the ordinary changed with him being here, and that kept him wary and paranoid. He was just waiting for the other shoe to drop, and he would not take the risk of his ancestor leaving without him.

As Connor sailed away from the Boston harbor to the homestead, Desmond made his way to the frontier, and decided to check on the village before continuing to Davenport manor.

“Rahrakwasere! You left without saying goodbye again, you know how worried I’d get.” Said Kanen’tó:kon, smiling nonetheless and crouched down to hug him.

Desmond felt himself relaxed, he couldn’t help it, everyone in this village was his family and he missed their scents and the longhouses while he was away.

“Is Ratonhnhaké:ton doing well?” Asked the mohawk, the wolf nodded.

“For your return, let us hunt, just as we used to before.” He grinned, and if Desmond could, he would be grinning as well.

A day later, he arrived to the homestead, just in time to hear Connor’s anger about Achilles leaving them in Boston, which his mentor said in return that the experience he learned was far better than the months of training. Desmond jumped through the window, surprising the both of them. Connor received his hidden blades.

The wolf waited for Godfrey to come running to the manor for help, but after three minutes, nothing happened.

‘Shit.’

This was what he was afraid of, the time where the other shoe would drop. He perked up his ears, grabbing the assassins’ attentions, until he heard faint calling of helps from the river. Desmond barked and Connor nodded, sensing the trouble on the wolf’s body, and ran to the river with his ancestor behind him. Desmond saved Godfrey and Connor saved Terry before they reached the waterfall.

After the duo build their houses in the homestead, Connor spotted smoke at the distance, Achilles told him to come meet him at the manor after he was done. The smoke came from Lance’s wagon, which was being burnt by mercenaries, then tied the man’s legs with ropes and threw him off the cliff. Ratonhnhaké:ton saved him, and Lance was the fifth member taking residence at the homestead.

Connor continued to train under Achilles. Study, training and work. He mastered patience and restraint, as he knew confronting the templars now, he would end up dead. Until time passed to three years and six months, and the Aquila was finally restored.

“Come aboard and feast your eyes, boy!” Exclaimed Robert Faulkner, the future first mate of Connor.

His ancestor took a step.

“No no no no, not the left foot! Never the left foot. Horrible luck. Step with your right foot first.”

Desmond snorted.

Connor looked around, and touched the wooden railings. “She is… solid.” He said with a matter of fact.

Upon the expected disappointment on Robert’s face, Desmond chuckled in his mind. Robert told him the ship still needed guns and officers, and that they would immediately set sail. Connor was surprised Desmond was coming along with him, but the former human already made up his mind a long time ago and he was not backing down, even if he was worried.

Desmond managed to survive one week and three days at sea, although barely. The first few days were hell and he couldn’t stop twitching, every morning he’d get a hangover even if he hadn’t been drunk in years, but it would always fade away at the end of the day, before coming back full force in the morning. They made it to Martha’s Vineyard.

Once everything was settled, night befell on the east coast of America. Aquila’s crew slept on the hammocks below deck, exhausted from moving the cannons all day. Connor sat on his mattress inside the captain’s quarters, with Desmond beside him.

“If it’s alright with you, what was your name when you were still human?”

Desmond opened his eyes, and stared at Connor’s curious face. ‘Heck, why not?’

The wolf sat up and moved a paw against the mattress, spelling his name.

“Desmond.”

Relief and satisfaction erupted inside him, he hadn’t heard his name for many years and he felt like himself again, a human and not a wolf.

Connor noticed his ears perking up, and smiled. “Would you like me to start calling you your real name?”

Desmond badly wanted to grin. He nodded.

The next day, the ship was ready to set sail again. The headache wasn’t as worse as it was before, which meant he was slowly getting used to sailing on a ship. Desmond didn’t get sea sick when he was still human, his inner wolf just hated being out in the water for too long.

“Are the guns ready?” Asked Connor, his hands gripping the ship’s wheel firmly.

“Aye, but we won’t jump in over our heads.” Answered Robert. “We’ll find a suitable target and show you how they work. We’ve fitted her with a modest amount of guns to start but rest assured there’s ample room to add more should you feel the need.”

Connor nodded. Up ahead, a couple of destroyed ships were resting on rocks above the water.

Robert grinned. “Looks like a British frigate with half seas over. Should do nicely for a spot of target practice. Bring her around broad side and when all guns are on target call fire.”

A drop of water hit Desmond’s nose, on the floorboards, until it started raining. ‘It didn’t rain in the animus.’

“Fire!”

Desmond couldn’t help flinching from the loudness of the cannons, it felt as if it was directly beside his ears. He bit his whimper when another shot was fired, then another, and another, until the destroyed ships were torn into bits. The crew cheered.

“You are a fast learner.” Stated Robert.

Connor glanced at him. “Provided something interests me.”

Three minutes later, vessels appeared behind the cliffs and started firing at the Aquila with cannon balls.

Connor steered the ship, annoyed. “Why is he shooting at us?”

“Destroying property of the crown. Disturbing the King’s peace. Take your pick.”

“What do we do?”

“Naught else to do but fight back! Sink the bastard!”

After the vessels were sunk down, a larger ship appeared.

“English frigates!” Exclaimed the deckman.

Connor was a natural, as if he had been attacking ships all his life. One more shot and the frigate would be finished. However, instead of moving out of the way, it went straight towards the Aquila. Since the enemy ship was nearby, Connor didn’t have time to steer away when the frigate immediately rammed against the Aquila.

British soldiers boarded them, and the crew had no choice but to fight. The rain shifted into a storm, which created huge waves that made the ships swung back and forth, and the wind howling above them.

Desmond had a bad feeling. ‘Shit.’ He activated eagle vision and helped the crew. The moment he glanced back at Connor, who was busy fighting off five British soldiers, he saw a man aiming his musket at his ancestor.

The wolf ran as fast as he could, hoping he could made it in time to stop the redcoat, and he did. He bit the soldier’s arm, who let out a surprised and pained scream, and took out the sword on his hip in panic and sunk it at Desmond’s side. The wolf yelped and let go, making him deactivate eagle vision as he fell to the floor, before the redcoat kicked him off to the side. Just his shitty luck, he was thrown to that one side with no railings and fell down into the ocean.

‘Fuck!’

His side burned as if it was doused in acid, and tried to keep himself afloat, and drank sea water when wave after wave tried to drag him down. In Desmond’s vision, he saw a rope hanging from the ship, and immediately swam after it, and held on and hoped someone would spot him because the water was freezing and he was going to die with blood loss. Someone was thrown overboard, and fell somewhere behind Desmond.

“H-help!” It was Michael, a seven year old boy who snuck into the ship because he didn’t want to wait for his father at home. Desmond knew this because he was the one who found him, hidden inside an empty barrel on the first day they sailed, and they became friends.

’Goddammit!’ Desmond let go of the rope and swam to the kid, and bit his shirt to drag him towards the rope, which the boy immediately grabbed onto.

Michael placed one arm around the wolf’s neck. “T-t-thank y-you, Sere.” His teeth chattering from the cold. Desmond barked to get someone’s attention from above, when another huge wave tried to bring them down, but the kid held on. However a stronger one followed, and Desmond slipped off from the child’s grip.

“Sere!”

The stab wound on his side felt numb, and it spread all over his body, everything felt cold and wrong. Desmond didn’t know which way was up or down anymore, until he couldn’t hold his breath, and darkness surrounded him.

“—ond!”

Someone was shaking him.

“Wa—… up!”

His ancestor sounded worried, when he was still a child and tried to save his mother from the burning longhouse. He sounded just as terrified.

“Desmond!”

Desmond opened his eyes, he was back on the ship, and saw Michael’s face filled with tears behind Connor. It was still raining.

Connor’s worried face shifted into relief, his shoulders relaxing and he smiled. “You’re okay.”

‘Far from it actually, but thanks.’ Desmond knew Connor saved him, it wasn’t that hard to figure out with the smell of sea water covered all over him. He noticed there were lesser redcoats on the ship. He winced, the pain at his side hurting like a bitch. ‘I can’t count how many times I escaped death. I guess my luck isn’t shitty after all.’

Connor gently carried him below deck, where the doctor treated his injury. His ancestor went back up, Michael stayed beside him, sitting on a stool. The doctor stitched up his wound and placed bandages around it.

Desmond heard the crew cheering from above, which meant they won. Connor then carried him into the captain’s quarters. A long time ago, Desmond would be embarrassed being carried by his seventeen year old ancestor while his crew watched, he’s fucking thirty-eight years old, but he’s been a wolf for many years and he got used to it. For a few days, he couldn’t move.

It took him a week until he could stand on his own, the good part was, his headache never came back. He sat beside his ancestor, who was steering the ship towards the homestead. Michael was sitting on the railing with his dad, holding a fishing line and saw Desmond.

The kid grinned brightly, one tooth missing, and waved enthusiastically at the wolf. “Sere! You can walk again—I mean, that’s great! That you can walk again, and soon you can run like you used to!” He was screaming, Desmond chuckled in his mind.

No one on the ship could pronounce Desmond’s Kanatahséton name, except for Connor, which was why they gave him a nickname.

“How did you manage training a wolf to be so well behave? I’m surprised it never bit your arm off.” Said Robert, which offended Desmond because he was not a wild and dangerous animal to begin with, even though he understood where the man came from.

“I never trained him.” Answered Connor.

“Wait, you mean to say he’s always been like this?”

‘Not always, I was once a human, then got turned into a wolf. You never know, maybe I’ll turn into a pterodactyl next year.’

Connor kept his gaze before him. “Yes.”

Robert looked as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. An idea came into Desmond’s mind, and activated eagle vision, turning invisible right in front of them. Connor was unfazed, although there was a knowing smirk on his face, Robert’s eyes were bulging out of his sockets.

“What the devil?!”

Desmond turned himself visible again, and kept his eyes before him like Connor, although he was chuckling in his mind.

The day slowly passed to night time, basking the ocean and the Aquila with the glow of the moon. Desmond always felt safer and more comfortable sleeping near with the villagers, whom he grew to know as pack and family. He knew this was a wolf thing, since he never felt this kind of feeling before. He didn’t find it strange, in fact, it was nice. Sometimes he would sleep somewhere else, but it was rare.

Connor was sitting beside him on his mattress, a book on his lap, and one hand brushing Desmond’s fur. The slow rocking of the ship, the lullaby of the ocean waves, and his ancestor near him, drifted him off to sleep.

It was close to afternoon when the sight of Davenport homestead appeared, and Desmond let out a sigh of relief.

‘Glad that was over.’

His body was just itching to hunt in the familiar woods again, to get rid of the smell of fish and salt in his mouth and fur.

‘I hope no other predators tried to take my territory while I was away, or there will be hell to pay.’

“Anyway, the Aquila’s here for you, should you get a pang for the open sea. Now I implore you to head up the hill ‘fore the Old Man comes out of retirement just for me.” Uttered Connor’s official first mate.

They returned to the manor, where Achilles was waiting for them with a frown on his face.

“Three weeks… and not even a goodbye before you left.”

“Sorry…” His ancestor said with a hint of guilt.

Achilles turned. “Well? What are you waiting for?”

They followed the master assassin into the manor’s basement. They stood before the assassin robes that hung in the middle of the room.

“Put them on.”

Connor glanced back at his mentor, before nodding. Once he was wearing the assassin robes, they stood outside the entrance of the basement.

Achilles smiled that didn’t quite reached his eyes. “Once upon a time we had ceremonies on such occasions. But I don’t think either of us are really the type for that. You’ve your tools and training. Your targets and goals. And now you have your title.” He placed a hand on Ratonhnhaké:ton’s shoulder. “Welcome to the Brotherhood, Connor.”


	7. Chapter 7

The redcoat let out a yell as the wolf’s fangs sunk into his throat, Desmond tasted blood and jumped away, the man fell dead on the soil, his body twitching for a few moments then went completely still. Warren and Prudence’s eyes widened in shock at the corpses in front of them, before they thanked their saviors. The current situation reminded the former human of William Johnson’s plans in the future, and Desmond came to the decision to let Connor handle it instead of what he planned, which was sneaking behind the templars and kill them himself during the upcoming Boston Tea Party.

There were simply too many reasons for things getting out of hand if he did it, an example of that was what happened one week ago at the Aquila, when Ratonhnhaké:ton would have been shot or Desmond would have been dead. He needed to be careful not to change history too much, with the butterfly effect and all. It was a mistake going after Charles Lee during the Boston Massacre, which could be the reason of last week’s mishap. Desmond learned his lesson pretty well, and he was sure Shaun would give him millions of explanations as to how stupid he was.

The former bartender knew what was coming before Kanen’tó:kon arrived at the manor two months later, the worry became more apparent when Connor opened the door.

“Kanen’tó:kon.” Connor greeted him with a soft smile.

“Yes, my friend.” His voice lacked the usual cheeriness he used whenever they were talking, his eyes drifted to the wolf for a moment, then it went back to Connor.

His ancestor’s happy face immediately morphed into concern when the other mohawk was still frowning. “What brings you here? Is the village alright?”

“For now.”

The master assassin’s posture became more alert. “What do you mean? What has happened?”

Kanen’tó:kon’s face creased with more worry. “Men came, claiming we had to leave. They said that the land was being sold and that the Confederacy had consented. We sent an envoy, but they would not listen.”

“You must refuse!”

“We cannot oppose the sachem,” The mohawk said, Connor looked away and began to think with a deep frown on his face. “but you are right as well. We cannot give up our home.”

His ancestor turned back to Kanen’tó:kon. “You have a name? Do you know who is responsible?”

“He is called William Johnson.”

Anger boiled inside Connor upon hearing the templar’s name. He grabbed the hatchet from his friend and buried it in a post in front of the house as to signify the start of their people’s war, which had annoyed Achilles as he could have used a tree.

After they saved a wounded Myriam, Connor and Desmond then traveled to Boston. They sought out Samuel Adams who was currently talking with Paul Revere. When the patriot noticed the master assassin, he excused himself and walked with Connor. On their way, they saw redcoats attacking an angry civilian’s home.

Connor stopped walking and glanced at Samuel. “Continue on. I shall meet you at our destination.”

They helped the man, Connor took out his tomahawk and swiftly ended two British soldiers, Desmond chased and killed the redcoat before he could call for reinforcements.

His ancestor’s future apprentice was out of breath by the time all of them were dead. “Justice for once. I dare the Governor to send more.” His voice thick with a French accent and spitted on a redcoat’s corpse, which Connor and Desmond smirked.

“You alright?” Ratonhnhaké:ton asked him.

“I’m fine. It’s not my first dance. For all their teeth and claws, these little foxes, they fight like puppies.” He chuckled and then patted Connor’s arm. “Thank you, my friend. I’d buy you an ale, but I’m expected somewhere else.”

Ratonhnhaké:ton nodded, and the chef left.

For three weeks Connor took care of the smuggled cargos around Boston, the master assassin blew up the crates with the illegal teas in them using barreled gunpowder, he also killed some of Johnson’s men by the docks. Since his ancestor was having another long meeting with Samuel, Desmond decided to stroll around the city. His eyes caught the sight of a skinny little girl sneaking her hand to grab an apple from the stall, only for the vendor to push her to a garbage dump.

“That’s where you belong!”

On any other day Desmond would mind his own business and continue his walk, but he saw blood on the girl’s arm, and also on the glass pieces by her bare feet. Tears started to run down on her dirty cheeks, the guy didn’t even care.

‘Son of a bitch.’

The wolf made his way to the jerk’s stalls and pushed them, his vegetables rolling down the street where people and horses stepped on them without a care.

“My cabbages!”

Desmond stole an apple and followed the scent of blood, it led him into an alley and at the back of the houses. Her tiny frame was hidden in the darkness between two barrels, and his gut twisted uncomfortably at the loud rumbling sound from her stomach. The apple rolled to her feet, the little girl flinched and ceased her crying to look around then stare with suspicion at the piece of fruit, as if it was going to bite her. A minute later she picked it up and took a bite, before she stuffed her face with more of it. Desmond was worried she was going to choke.

Blood continued to trickle down from her arm, and it needed to be treated or else it would get infected with how dirty she was, which would mean taking her to Connor, which would also mean she would have to trust Desmond. Within a blink of an eye a wolf appeared before her, the little girl gasped and leaned as far back into the darkness, her heartbeat running a mile in Desmond’s ears. Just like Connor before Desmond waited until the child’s hand hesitantly moved forward, her fingers brushing into his fur as her lips slowly formed into a smile.

“Where did you come from?” Her voice hoarse and tiny due to lack of water, Desmond also picked up a British accent from her.

The little girl kept her hand on his back while Desmond lead her out of the alley.

“Where are you taking me?”

Desmond turned invisible, and the child giggled. “You’re weird, which makes me weird too because I’m talking to a wolf.”

He smiled in his mind. ‘Then we’ll get along nicely.’

People moved out of her way as if she was carrying a deadly disease, and a growl was threatening to come out from his throat but he restrained himself, he was no wild animal after all even if he wanted to scare the living daylights out of them.

They arrived to Stephane’s tavern, Connor and Samuel wasn’t inside, which would mean they’d have to have wait for his ancestor. Smoke reached his nose, he then realized it was the chef’s anger. Desmond forgot it was today the chef would go stomping down the streets and yell shit at the redcoats.

“Is this your house?”

He saw his ancestor coming towards them, he could clearly see Connor’s face morphing into concern over the little girl’s bloody arm. His eyes drifted to Desmond.

“What have you done this time?”

“You can see him?” The child gasped.

Connor crouched down until he was at her eye level and inspected her injury, his face turning serious before he stood up. “Come inside, we must take care of your wound.”

The tavern was in disarray, and Stephane’s angry mumbling in French were getting faster, which Desmond could understand because Ezio learned French in his time. The former bartender wasn’t sure if the others could smell the thick smoke lingering in the air. Connor turned to the chef.

“Stephane, what is wrong? Where is Sam Adams?”

The chef’s furious face glanced at his ancestor, and he didn’t notice the little girl and the visible wolf in the middle of the room. “Who cares! I’ve been robbed!” He switched to French. “Those pieces of shit are going to pay for this…”

The man left, and Connor’s frown deepened then glanced at the child. “Stay here.” He moved to follow the angry chef on the streets.

Desmond was torn between going after his ancestor and waiting with the little girl. He sighed and didn’t go after him, as she was his responsibility after all.

He placed his paws firmly on the wooden floorboards, his ears twitching and tried to catch any sound of warning. He was worried if Connor got rammed over by horses, or if he was impaled in muskets. They were ridiculous thoughts, yet the feeling from two months ago were still embedded in his nerves. Desmond’s stare at the door hardened.

“Are you okay?”

He blinked, eyes drifting from the entrance to the little girl. ‘She’s more observant than I expected, and mature. Aren’t kids her age supposed to be easily distracted?’ Desmond nodded and sat on the floor.

The child glanced at the chairs and tables around her, the blood on her arm trickled down and left a few drops on the ground, her feet shifting to one another which made her look awkward and small. Desmond stood and walked towards her, his head pushing her body to one of the chairs until she understood. Due to her short height, Desmond helped her to get on and sit on the furniture, her face twisting into a wince of pain before she smiled down at him.

“Thank you.”

They waited until three hours passed by. When Connor and Stephane arrived unscathed, Desmond let out a sigh of relief. The little girl was fast asleep on the table, a towel was wrapped around her arm. The humans woke her up and finally treated her wound, Stephane let her used his bathroom to clean her up and gave one of his clean shirts for her to wear. The kid’s name was Chloe, and she had no parents or home to return to.

The chef decided she would stay at his place for the night, then they would send her to an orphanage in Boston. The idea sounded wrong, because the next early morning the little girl was happily helping Stephane clean the tavern, and the chef’s face lit up when Chloe ate everything what he cooked for her, but their lives were busy and filled with danger.

Later that day, they went to the orphanage, with Chloe clinging tightly to Stephane’s leg.

“I don’t like it here.” She whispered, but the humans heard it, and Stephane’s face morphed into concern.

The woman smiled. “Don’t worry, we’ll take good care of her.” Her voice leaving no argument, as if she had been saying it a million times in the past. She picked up Chloe, who was looking at the humans with a worried face, before she was brought away from their sight. Stephane’s shoulder sagged, and there was the scent of salt in the air even though they were miles away from the harbor, then Desmond realized it was sadness.

A week later nothing out of the ordinary happened, but Desmond kept his guard up just in case the world was just shitting him. They met up with Samuel Adams and the rest of the Sons of Liberty at the Massachusetts bay. They attacked the redcoats guarding the ships before they started dumping the tea overboard.

Crates flew over the railings and into the water, and Desmond remembered Shaun saying what a waste of tea it was during this event, and the former bartender wondered what would his British assassin friend think now that Desmond was helping the Sons of Liberty getting rid of it. He could see some of the people getting confused when a redcoat would die all of a sudden, as if they were having a heart attack as blood poured out of their mouths. The smell of gunpowder and sweat reached his nose, and his eyes drifted to the other side where the templars stood and watched with concealed anger.

When they successfully threw everything except for one crate overboard, the Sons of Liberty cheered. “We’ve done it!” Samuel exclaimed with a grin.

Stephane walked up to the master assassin. “Connor! We saved the last one for you.” He said and handed the crate of tea to his ancestor.

Connor put it in front of him, as if he was going to give it to William Johnson, Charles Lee, and John Pitcairn. The crate fell out of his hands and into the water, his eyes never leaving the templars.

They left before more British soldiers arrived, the Sons of Liberty dispersed. Connor went with Stephane to his tavern, since the chef was his apprentice, he wanted to speak with him before he went back to the homestead. When they arrived, Chloe was there sitting in one of the chairs, a black eye clearly visible on her pale face. Stephane immediately went to her side to check her injury, before his lips formed into a thin line.

“Who did this to you?”

She glanced at Connor and Desmond before looking back at the chef. “Ronald, he said I don’t belong at the orphanage because I have British blood and should be thrown at the sea like the tea.”

Stephane’s frown deepened. “So he punched you?”

“After I kicked his balls.”

Their eyebrows rose in surprise at that, Stephane chuckled. “Good girl.”

The six year old child smiled, and then she frowned. “I don’t want to go back.”

He petted her head. “You no longer needed to.”

Chloe looked at him in confusion, she slowly realized what his words meant and hope surfaced in her eyes. “Are you…”

Stephane smiled and nodded. The child squealed, her arms flew to place them around the chef’s neck. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

Ratonhnhaké:ton was content that Johnson could no longer earn the money to buy his village. After they spent another week in Boston and Connor recruiting Duncan Little and Clipper Wilkinson as his apprentices, they traveled back to the Homestead. It wasn’t until Desmond reached the manor that relief washed over him, there wasn’t any mishap and everything went just as he expected.


	8. Chapter 8

The rain left the smell of wet dirt and old bark in the Homestead, and it made the soil soft to walk on and there were droplets clinging to the leaves and rocks. Desmond and Connor made their way up to the manor, they found the mentor of the colonial assassins sitting on a chair behind the bricked house.

Connor walked up to Achilles. “It is done.”

“Johnson is dead?”

“No.” His ancestor hesitated. “He retreated when we destroyed the tea.”

“Only to hatch some new scheme I’m sure… You should have killed him.”

He stood beside his mentor. “There was no need.”

Achilles looked at him from the corner of his eyes. “Time will tell if you speak the truth.”

While they were away in Boston for a month, a bear decided to live in the Homestead. The chosen cave was near the docks of the Aquila, and while the area was pretty much deserted Desmond wasn’t going to hope that the creature wouldn’t pay a visit to the humans. He scared it back to the Frontier.

‘Should I just mark the whole area to keep them away?’ He doubted it as he was only one wolf. ‘But it will be worth a try.’

A letter from Stephane arrived to the manor a few days later, Connor’s apprentice stated that a group of templars were secretly trying to liberate Boston again and the chef needed his help. His other apprentices were busy as well, each of them protecting different areas all by themselves, but it wasn’t a thing to worry about because Connor was a great mentor. They immediately traveled to Boston and noticed more redcoats were patrolling around, the tension between the civilians and the British soldiers was growing thicker every day, and it was only a matter of time before push would come to shove.

They found one of the templars talking to a vendor, his face darkening with a frown. “Why are you still here?!”

“B-but you only gave me a few coins, I need—” The shop owner was cut off when the templar suddenly pushed one of his stalls, carrots and potatoes rolled to the ground.

“I care nothing of it! You better leave this area before Charles sees you and believe me, I’m more merciful than ‘im.”

Connor heard enough and decided to show himself. The templar’s eyes widened and before he could run, his ancestor slammed him to the wall, the vendor quickly left. Connor asked him where his leader was, he answered him with fear in his eyes, the master assassin then knocked him unconscious and they left.

On their way to the templar’s hideout, a man was getting beat up by a group of drunken redcoats, he saw Connor and asked him for help. Of course the mohawk would help him, the beat up man then thanked Ratonhnhaké:ton and told him he was a miner working in Boston, but it was hard to get money as no one would listen to him because of his accent. Connor told him about the homestead, which the man who introduced himself as Norris would take a look.

After Connor and Desmond got rid of the templars all over Boston, they returned to the homestead, where Norris already built a house for himself near the mountains. It seemed the miner found what he was looking for. They stumbled upon Myriam who was trying to catch a white furred cougar.

‘Guess marking the area isn’t effective.’

Connor decided to help and the hunter was glad, the humans didn’t need to find clues as Desmond already knew where it was.

Myriam aimed her rifle at the creature, she managed to graze its left shoulder. The former human made himself invisible and dashed towards the cougar, he jumped on its back and bit its neck, however it acted fast and rolled to the ground. Sharp claws almost touched Desmond’s eyes, and he quickly moved away.

‘Huh you’re not just a pretty animal then.’

The cougar roared and ran away, but it was badly injured so Desmond caught up to it and rammed it to the edge of the cliff. Once again the creature swiftly regained its balance before it could roll down to its death.

As the invisible wolf clawed its face, the cougar opened its mouth widely and managed to bite Desmond’s limb. Pain surged up under his skin, and visible blood dropped down to the grass. The wolf used his other set of claws to swipe it across its face again, it made it let go of Desmond’s limb.

‘You piece of shit.’

This time the cougar rammed itself against Desmond, and the creature wasn’t scared that it was fighting an invisible enemy. Desmond growled and sunk his fangs into its neck and ripped off the skin, blood spluttered across his face but he didn’t care.

His nose caught the scent of ashes, he realized it was the cougar’s fear. The creature whimpered and still managed to run away and leaving a red trail behind it. Desmond got up and hissed at his new wound, he was also annoyed that the creature didn’t die of blood loss all the way to Norris’ mine, at least it was badly wounded enough that Connor didn’t have to go in and draw it out, Myriam shot the growling creature with one bullet. Norris stared wide eyed at it then to her.

The hunter started treating Desmond’s injured leg, she rolled the bandages around his limb.

“How can it make itself invisible? I mean, that is impossible.”

Norris wiped his sweat off his brow with his sleeve then glanced at the white furred wolf. “Maybe it is a magical wolf?”

Myriam laughed, and Norris smiled at her and while the hunter was treating his wound, the miner kept giving quick glances at her. Connor noticed but Desmond was sure his ancestor had no exact idea why he was doing it. They said their farewells and called it a day, Connor and Desmond went to the manor.

Due to his injured limb, Desmond couldn’t hunt and get himself food to eat, but that was okay because Connor would hunt for him. Another wolf thing, he would rather chase preys himself, the satisfaction of getting what he wanted through his own effort overthrown the wait to be fed. However, he knew he would heal a lot faster if he just rested. After all, he mustn’t miss out the day Johnson would be assassinated which was coming closer. The wolf would take walks through the homestead, everyone already knew Connor’s partner in crime which was why the residents were never scared to come near him and offered him food.

‘My pack just keeps getting bigger and bigger.’

Stephane and the others would send letters to the manor time to time, and thankfully nothing much were going on in Boston, or the Frontier thus it was a lazy month. Days passed and Desmond was slowly getting better, Connor would visit the other residents and was always willing to help. When his ancestor was not around, it would be Achilles who would manage and clean the huge house, he would groom the horses at the stables all by himself. The old man didn’t mind, he had been doing it for years before they arrived after all.

It was a week later when Connor unwrapped the bandages around Desmond’s limb, they were inside the living room, at the corner of Desmond’s eye he saw Achilles removing the ashes from the fireplace. As Ratonhnhaké:ton put away the bandages, Desmond heard running footsteps coming closer to the manor. A minute later the front door was pushed open.

“Ratonhnhaké:ton! Ratonhnhaké:ton!” Kanen’tó:kon walked in, the wolf could smell ashes and rain storm all around him.

Connor stood up and went to him, Desmond followed. “Kanen’tó:kon? Why are you here? Has something happened?”

The mohawk’s face was creased as he spoke. “William Johnson has returned – with all the money required to buy our land. He meets with the elders as we speak. I have begged them to resist. But I fear he shall have his way unless you intervene.”

Ratonhnhaké:ton frowned. “How is this possible? We destroyed the tea.”

“The Templars are nothing if not resourceful. You should have heeded my warning.” Stated Achilles.

Desmond could strangely smell rotten meat around his ancestor, it was regret. Kanen’tó:kon looked at Connor.

“Please, you have to stop him.”

The scent of regret was gone, and they walked out of the house. “Of course. Can you tell me where they are meeting?”

They made their way to the Frontier. On top of the cliff, they could see Templars guarding the area at the other side of the river.

“Johnson Hall is just across the river. The water is well guarded, Ratonhnhaké:ton.”

“Wait for us here.”

The master assassin free run his way down through the trees, the wolf following just behind him. They then dived into the water and hid behind some plants that were growing in the water, until they finally made it to the other side undetected.

Desmond knew Connor was going to climb up the rocky cliffs to get his way around, and since his claws couldn’t sink into stoned surfaces, he would just go on foot.

‘I’m taking the long route then.’

He activated eagle vision and followed the path to Johnson’s Hall. There were Templars in every corner, and there were more of them the closer Desmond got to the building. If there were only fifteen or twenty, they would have handled them easily, but even over fifty templars were a bit too much.

The wolf ran pass by them, the Templars completely oblivious. Desmond finally made it to the end of the path and saw the bricked house before him. The elders sat in front of the building, with templars surrounding them and each carried a musket in their hands. The wolf stood a few feet away from Johnson, who was trying to coax the Iroquois to accept his proposal. Desmond waited as he knew Connor was too. Like his other ancestors, Ratonhnhaké:ton wanted to know the reason behind their actions as understanding the enemy could give them an advantage.

Johnson took a step forward. “Brothers, please! I am confident we will find a solution!”

“We are not your brothers.”

That did not bother the Templar. “Do we not seek the same things? Peace, prosperity, fertile land.”

The elder’s frown deepened. “You seek land, true enough. Land that is not yours, nor any person’s.”

“I only wish to keep you safe! There are those who would betray and manipulate you. Or worse yet – take the land by force.”

The elder refused all of the Templar’s words, he was unmoving as a rock. The other mohawks glanced at the men with guns behind them, fear hinted in their eyes as they tried to tell him to just accept Johnson’s offer, however the elder already made up his mind.

The templar slightly narrowed his eyes at the mohawk. “So be it. I offered you an olive branch, and you knocked it from my hand.” He then gestured at the redcoats, who understood and aimed their muskets at the elder. “Perhaps you’ll respond better to the sword.”

The rest of the Iroquois widened their eyes. “Are you threatening us?”

Johnson glanced at him, a hint of hurt in his gaze. “Yes.”

‘Not on our watch.’

Desmond’s eyes drifted upwards, he saw Connor standing at the edge of the roof of the bricked house. As the master assassin jumped from the building, the wolf leaped towards the redcoat and sink his teeth into his arm. The man screamed in pain, everyone else were staring in confusion. Connor landed on Johnson and stabbed him with a hidden blade, the templar grunted and fell to the ground. The Iroquois then understood what was happening and began to attack the men behind them, it would only be a matter of time before the rest of the templars arrived to join in on the fight.

Johnson stared wide eyed at Connor. “Ah, no. What have you done?”

“Ensured an end to your schemes. You sought to claim these lands for the Templars.”

Blood started seeping out of Johnson’s mouth, he explained to the mohawk that what he always wanted was to protect them, even when it meant killing them to make them see reason. His eyes rolled to the back of his head, chest no longer rising and Desmond heard his heartbeat stopped. By the time more templars arrived to the scene, the Iroquois picked up that it was a good time to start running. Connor and Desmond made their way to the cliffs, below them was the deep river, they performed a leap of faith.

They met up with Kanen’tó:kon, Connor told him what happened, and relief flooded all over their friend’s body. He chuckled and told them they should go home and celebrate, now that Johnson wasn’t going to bother them anymore. It had been a while since Ratonhnhaké:ton spend some time with his people, which was why he easily agreed. They made their way to Kanatahséton, everyone greeted them with smiles. Connor went to Kaniehtí:io before he spoke with the clan mother.

Once the news was spread around the village, they started to go hunting for the feast. Desmond joined too because why not. They returned with fresh meats, children started surrounding the wolf, excitement in their eyes as they brush his fur. There were more of them than he remembered, and he wasn’t used to this much attention but turning himself invisible would make him look like a coward, so he just went along with it. Feathers and beads were braided into his fur. Well, things could get worse like putting paint on him and thankfully they didn’t, even when they looked as if they wanted to.

Ziio was also chosen as the next clan mother. Desmond knew why it took so long for the clan mother to do it, Kaniehtí:io broke one of their important laws, which was joining the war. Ziio accepted her mistake, and it seemed the clan mother finally forgave her. Connor had a huge smile on his face while he hugged Ziio.

“I am so happy for you, mother.”

She smiled and hugged him back. “As am I.”

The elders from the other tribes arrived during their celebration, with fresh meat and pelts. “A token of our gratitude for helping us.” They joined the feast.


End file.
